We are looking at the book of Ephesians. It's been a couple of weeks since we've studied Galatians. So, what are some of the things in the book of Galatians? I have a story of Hagar and Sam. I have a contrast between the fruit of flesh and the fruit of spirit. I have a story of sowing and reaping. I also have the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, so obviously Galatians, a strong message of justification by faith. Our summary for Galatians. Galatians teaches how the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ frees us from the bondage of the law by grace alone through faith alone. What are some of the ways that Galatians speaks to us today? Right. Right. Right. All right, well Jim gets the gold star tonight. He did pretty good there with retaining Galatians. Alright, well we're looking at the book of Ephesians tonight. And what are some things in the book of Ephesians? Right. Yeah, so some other common things realized in Ephesians opens up talking about predestination. Mentioned salvation by grace through faith, not of works. The marriage of a man and a woman reflecting Christ and his church. The armor of God was mentioned as well as probably the most extensive references to spiritual warfare would be found in the book of Ephesians. Okay, so our summary here on the board for Ephesians. Ephesians was written to show how God is glorified through Christ in the church by the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in one body. And that It comes out particularly in the verse that's right at the very center of this book. That's chapter 3, verse 21. Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. And all the things that have gone before that to speak of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles. Alright, so observations on Ephesians. Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. It is the fifth book of the epistles and of the church epistles. Paul wrote Ephesians most likely during his first imprisonment in Rome. So that would be in the early 60s of the first century and with what is covered at the very end of the book of Acts. Ephesians is often grouped with some other letters that were written around the same time. And they're sometimes referred to as the prison epistles of Paul. And there are actually four of them. So does anybody know what those are? That's right, yeah. So Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. The exact order is not certain, though Philippians does seem to be a little earlier. Ephesians and Colossians have so many similarities that it seems they had to have been written very closely. And then you also have the overlap with Philemon and the mention of, I can't think of his name now. Yes, so you have the overlap there. So those four letters are all connected together and were close in time, and Ephesians and Colossians especially appearing very close. So those prison epistles, most likely written during that first imprisonment in Rome. So Ephesians, it is a literary epistle, and it includes the standard conventions that you expect. So you have your salutation, chapter 1, verses 1 to 2. You have the body of the letter, chapter 1, verse 3, through chapter 6, verse 20. And then you have the conclusion, which is chapter 6, verses 21 to 24. So it includes some of the things you'd expect, such as thanksgivings and prayers. In fact, for being such a short book, it includes a few prayers in Ephesians. It does not include any personal greetings in the terms of naming people in Ephesus. It does not include any discernible corrections or rebukes. It does include rich, rich doctrinal instruction and very clear practical exhortations. And in fact, the letter is pretty well divided evenly between those two things, half of it being the body, half of it being doctrinal, half of it being practical. Now, the letter to the Ephesians does not include the specific mention of an occasion or a concern. So it doesn't mention any particular problem in the church at Ephesus. It doesn't mention any particular question that they had or any sort of wrong that Paul was writing to correct. So it is a little different in that regard. The letter, though, when you look at it as a whole, it is a strong exhortation to unity, particularly between Jews and Gentiles within a church. And we know that that certainly was an issue among the early churches, and that would be due to the influence of the Judaizers as well as the weaker conscience of some of the Jewish Christians. So we know that was an issue. Paul addressed some of that sort of thing in the first Corinthians letter. He obviously addressed it in Galatians. He addressed it in the a letter to the Romans toward the end. So he addresses that issue, the Jew and Gentile problem, at many different times. And in the Book of Acts, we certainly know that it was an issue. So in other words, what I'm saying is that we don't have a specific mention in the letter that this was a problem. Like, for instance, he writes to the Church of Corinth and he says, you know, it's commonly reported that there's divisions among you. And then he goes on to talk about those divisions. Well, he doesn't say anything like that, but I think it's safe to infer that Maybe there was some problem there, or the potential for some problem, or perhaps he's just trying to guard them against that problem and exhorting them to this type of unity. So that really provides the occasion, so to speak. At least it's the purpose of why he is writing, though there's not any particular incident that seems to have provoked it. All right, so let's do a quick walkthrough here of the Letter to the Ephesians, six chapters. Chapter number one. It begins with the salutation, and chapter 1 proceeds to describe God's purpose and plan in Christ for all who will be saved, including such things as redemption, inheritance, blessings, adoption, what have you. Chapter two opens with the common sinful beginning of Jews and Gentiles alike. So he opens in chapter one going back before the foundation of the world and of those being chosen in Christ to salvation. He opens in chapter two of experience in life being born into sin and walking in sin and that also being a common experience of Jews and Gentiles alike. And so through chapter 2, he describes the transformation that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. And he goes on toward the end of the chapter to speak of the joining together of Jews and Gentiles in the church because of their unity in Christ. So that unity in Christ is what makes the foundation for that practical unity within the church. And that comes out as the letter goes on. Chapter 3 unfolds God's mystery as the salvation of Gentiles and them being made fellow heirs without becoming Jews and apart from the Old Covenant. So, the mystery that is referred to a few times in Ephesians, and it's really explained and opened up in chapter 3, what this mystery is that Paul's talking about, and it's the revelation of the new covenant salvation that does not require circumcision and keeping of the law of the old covenant. In particular, that applies to Gentiles. So, it's not a mystery in the Old Testament, about the salvation of Gentiles. That's spoken of even if you go all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant. I mean it's spoken of there. How that through Abraham is going to come blessing to all the nations and families of the earth. Not just the special nation that comes from him of the Jewish people. So all the way through you have that through the Old Testament. But what was not revealed during that time was that the Gentiles would be included in new covenant salvation apart from circumcision and the works of law. We've obviously spent a lot of time talking about those kind of things because we've been going through the book of Acts where that is a major issue in clarifying the gospel, where here Paul writes to the Ephesians, he speaks about it as a great mystery. This is something that the prophets before didn't see, and something that God has revealed in Christ. So that's the mystery that is spoken of in the book. He goes on in chapter 3 to show that the wisdom of God is made known by the local church. In other words, that local church is a visible body. It's a visible, tangible congregation where Jews and Gentiles are joined together in one body. Now, it's hard probably for us to imagine the divide between Jew and Gentile as strong as it was. And if we probably think of some of the most extreme examples that we know of racial problems and conflicts, Jews, for instance, they would not sit down at a table and eat with a Gentile. They would not go into a Gentile's home. After, you know, having walked in a street where Gentiles walk, they would come home and shake the dust off their feet and they would, you know, bathe in themselves and all of these kinds of things, all these kind of practices that were a part of their cultural identity. And so for the world then to look on this local congregation where you have Jews and Gentiles that are joined together, and they're eating together, and they're loving one another, and they're cooperating together, and they're preaching the gospel, and all these sort of things, then the manifold wisdom of God is being made known. It's been made manifest. It's being opened up. And so as God is glorified, God is glorified as you come to the end of chapter three, that verse we read there a few moments ago. God is glorified by the local church as Jews and Gentiles are united in one body. It's tangible, it's evident, this is a community of people that are diverse ethnically and what have you, and yet they are united together through Christ. Chapter four then, is where the turn happens in the book as you move toward the practical exhortations. And chapter four begins describing the practical unity of the church body that's made up of Jews and Gentiles. It ends by describing the practical outworking of the new life in Christ. Chapter 5 continues the practical exhortation with the theme of congregational unity, exhorting husbands and wives and showing marriage as a gospel picture of Christ and His church. So then chapter 6 begins with further reference to harmonious relationships and has a lengthy section on the armor of God. and describes the spiritual warfare that churches are engaged in and exhorts to a unified stand against the common enemy, and then ends with the greeting and the blessing that is typically included in a New Testament epistle. So the outline of the book, simply in two parts, chapters one to three, which show the root of unity in Christ. And chapters 4-6, the fruit of unity in Christ. So you have the foundation of unity in Christ and then in chapters 4-6 it being lived out, how it looks practically. Alright, so we'll go to interpretation. Ephesians, again, in a short letter, does present a lot of rich theology. touches on various biblical doctrines. For instance, from Ephesians, we see much that's spoken of about salvation. And not just salvation, but of various aspects. So, predestination, election, adoption, redemption, glorification, inheritance, grace, faith. All these things are presented in one way or another in Ephesians. You also doctrinally have much in Ephesians about the church. You see the foundation for a local church. You see the role of pastors and teachers. You see the the interdependence of the members within the body. You think especially of chapter early part of chapter four, how every member is to contribute to the whole that they are to be diverse members, but yet joined together into one body, contributing to one another, helping to edify one another and encourage one another and build each other up and help bringing one another to maturity in Christ. You also have much theologically about the Christian life in the letter to the Ephesians. So for one, you have a rich section. In fact, I think it was Might have been Warren Wiersbe in his commentary. I don't know if you're familiar with him or not, but he had that Be series, Be this, Be that, Be whatever. For Ephesians, if I remember correctly, I think he entitled it Be Rich. And what he was referring to was all the riches that we have in Christ because they are, Paul lays them out in Ephesians probably about as well in such a short amount of space as we see anywhere in the New Testament. So for the Christian life, we see just enumerated many blessings and resources that we have in Jesus Christ. We learn about the equipment of the armor of God. There's some other references. I think Paul refers to a helmet of salvation in another place. But here we have a full detailing of the equipment of the armor of God. And we learn that it is for defense in spiritual warfare that we are engaged again. Paul makes it clear. in the letter to the Ephesians that our wrestle really is not with flesh and blood. It's really not the elements of the world and humanity that we see around us. It's really a warfare with spiritual darkness, with powers in high places and all of these sort of things. And that's the sort of warfare that Really, we need defense and we need protection. And that's what we have in Christ. It's what we have in the armor of God. Also in the theology of the Christian life, there's an extensive exhortation to walking in the new life in Christ. Now this takes up most of chapters 4-6. But just consider here, turn to chapter 4, And just consider how he begins this section, chapter 4, verse number 21. He says, If so be that ye have heard him speaking of Christ, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." And from there he says, wherefore putting away lying, and on and on he goes really into part of chapter 6. So what does it mean and what does it look like to put on Christ, to put on the new man that's created in righteousness and true holiness. Well, that is wonderfully enumerated throughout these chapters. Such things as speaking truth, not stealing, hard work, generosity, clean speech, getting rid of bitterness, being forgiving and patient with one another and so on. All of these various things that are talked about here. This is what it looks like to walk in the new life in Christ. So also in Ephesians, the primary theme of the letter to the Ephesians, the primary theme is that of unity in Jesus Christ. That's the primary theme. When you read this letter, the letter specifically addresses the unity of a local church as a means of glorifying God. In other words, one of the ways that a church is going to glorify God and is going to display God's glory to the world is through the unity of the membership. That membership being diverse in various ways, male, female, young, old, various ethnicities, whatever. However all that diversity comes together, it is a way that the church glorifies Jesus Christ because Ultimately, a church should exist in such a way that our primary reason for being united to one another is because of our union with Christ. So in other words, we might have a lot of common interests. We may have some common hobbies. We may have some common background. We may have a lot of common things that we can talk about and enjoy. But within a church body, we ought also to be united not just with those that we share commonalities with, but those that we're completely different from. And really there's just no other reason than Jesus Christ that we would be joined together and living and working together in the way that we are. So even when you read the sections of this letter, the doctrinal sections have this theme. In other words, when Paul is talking about, he starts out talking about predestination and he's talking about being chosen and going back before the foundation of the world and God's purpose in Christ, you know, it's not just that he's teaching a systematic theology class. Paul is showing the foundation for this Jew-Gentile unity in the body of Christ. And ultimately what he's saying is that all those who are saved have this same background. All those who are saved have been chosen in God's purpose before the foundation of the world, Jew and Gentile alike. He goes on to show in chapter 2 how Christ has broken down that middle wall partition And so even the doctrinal sections have this theme of unity, how that we have the common experience. Again, you go back to chapter 2 and how we even have a common experience in our sinfulness. So no matter how different we might be because of our skin color or our gender or whatever, no matter how different that we might be, we share that same commonality. We're born sinners in this world. We walk in this world according to the course of the world. We walk in the vanity of our minds, and we have all of those things in common, and that we have been saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. So all of these things serve to join us together, to join us to one another, because first and foremost, we've been joined to Christ. So these doctrinal sections show the common thread of unity that we have. And from the beginning of the letter to the end, unity is the theme even as we get to the armor of God. Because when we get to the armor of God as you're getting to the end of the letter, you realize that the intention here is to stand together. It's not to just be armored as an individual so that you can go out and face the powers of darkness, but it is to stand together. One of the things I like to point out is that when you look at even the shield of faith that is mentioned, The very type of shield that that word points to is not, it's not like the small round shield that would be used in close hand-to-hand combat, but it is a shield that would be about two and a half feet wide, it'd be about four feet tall, it'd be like carrying a door around, basically. And it's the kind of shield where the soldiers would line up, shoulder to shoulder and to put these shields. And why would they do that? Well, they would be protected from archery fire, from arrows that were being sent from a distance. And that's exactly what Paul says the shields are doing. They're quenching the fiery darts of Satan. So even in talking about the armor of God, Paul has in mind a united stand. that we're standing united against these powers of darkness with the defense of the armor of God on. So again, it's just the theme throughout. When you look at the practical sections of the Christian life, you'll notice the same thing. Because he'll say things like being tender-hearted and being forgiving, but to who? He says, to one another. And again, he's speaking within the context of this church body and being all of these things relationally one to another. So, primary theme of the letter is unity. So the letter to the Ephesians, it does contribute to the expectation of the Messiah. First of all, it shows Christ in the purpose and plan of God from before the foundation of the world. It shows Him from there to His work in the world to redeem those who have been chosen and to His exaltation to the right hand of God and the guarantee of the inheritance through the giving of the Spirit. So it shows us this work of the Messiah that He came to do. And again, it was for Jew and Gentile alike. And concerning the coming of the kingdom, we do have another reference in Ephesians chapter 5. He says, beginning in verse 1, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us, and offering in a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them." So, he points to this kingdom, this inheritance of the kingdom as yet future. And he gives a warning here, similar to the warning that is in Galatians and appears in a few other places in 1 Corinthians as well, a very real warning. And here he's saying, those who walk in the disobedience as the children of disobedience are walking contrary to the new life in Christ. And he says, don't be deceived. Those who continue to walk that way will not inherit the kingdom of God. So they have not experienced that salvation and new life in Christ. He says don't be partakers with them, but come out obviously from among them. Walk in the new life in Christ. Okay, applications. So how does the letter to the Ephesians help us today? I have four of these. Number one, understanding Ephesians helps us understand our common position in Christ with all believers and that it is the primary foundation for our actual unity with other believers in the same local church. So there is a sense if we think about all of the saved, we all have the same standing in Christ. You're either in Christ or not in Christ. And if you're in Christ and you have life, you have salvation. And all those who are in Christ have the same standing in Christ, been saved by His grace through faith. So that is a commonality that we share with all believers, no matter where they may be. But the point of the letter to the Ephesians is that when we come together in a local body, in a local congregation or church, that we have a foundation for actual unity, for the actual loving of one another, being tender hearted with one another, being forgiving of one another, all these kind of things that he talks about in this letter, we have a real foundation for the actual unity with other believers in the same local church. And again, that's going to be regardless of whatever differences that we may have in regards to ethnicity and what have you. Number two, Understanding Ephesians certainly helps us understand true righteousness and holiness as living out the new life in Christ. Much of the practical exhortation that Paul gives is relational. In other words, it's in terms of other people. So think about, just for instance, think about Paul writing that we are to be forgiving. Well, how are we to be forgiving? Well, the only way we can be forgiving is to be forgiving in a community of other people. How can we be tender hearted? How can we be long suffering? How can we be generous? I mean, on and on and on. So all these things are many ways relational and they apply to the practical unity within a church. In other words there's a there's a way that we ought to live and walk together as a body of Jesus Christ and that's what Paul has laid out. So number three Understanding Ephesians helps us understand the sinfulness of hating and despising others because of ethnic differences. And obviously the Jew and Gentile was a serious racial problem in that first century, and no doubt still is in many ways, going from both camps. But we ought to understand how that, again, we have these commonalities. So if it's someone that's a believer, Well, then we have a commonality that we are in Christ, just as much as they are. We're joined to Christ, so we have that commonality if they're an unbeliever. We have the commonality that we were born into sin just like they were. We were just as much a child of wrath and a child of disobedience. as they are. And so again, that's a commonality. So we should be able to see the sinfulness of hating and despising others because of differences from us. Number four, this last one. Understanding Ephesians is a book that also helps us understand the need to be united with other believers in a local church. The need that we have to be giving glory to God that way, making the wisdom of God known in that way, through the unity and standing together against the common spiritual enemy. All right, that is all for Ephesians. Any questions? Comments? Criticisms? Witty repartee? Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. Going back to that second Ephesians, you know, you're saved by grace and faith, and that's not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. is the gift, or is that just a poor English translation, and we should be looking at all three as being the gift? My understanding is that when you look at it in the Greek, that the gift correlates with being saved. It's the salvation that's being spoken of specifically. That's the gift of God.